Feds Target Michael Avenatti's Jet in Client Fraud Sentence

This jet was seized by federal agents shortly after Michael Avenatti’s arrest in 2019. (U.S. Department of Justice photo)

Federal prosecutors moved Monday to make Michael Avenatti’s seized $4.5 million jet an official piece of government property as part of his upcoming sentence in his client fraud case.

A forfeiture application filed in the Central District of California Monday afternoon said Avenatti tried to relinquish his interest in the Honda 420 aircraft last month in a separate forfeiture case but was unable to file a notice.

Prosecutors attached the notice as an exhibit, noting that Avenatti states in it that he “does not object” to the court entering a forfeiture order.

The filing from Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan G. Boyle of the forfeiture unit in Los Angeles observes that Avenatti admitted in his guilty pleas that he’d embezzled $2.5 million from “Client 2” and transferred it to another law firm.

“As alleged in the Indictment, one such execution of this scheme was the embezzlement of funds from ‘Client 2,’ and specifically, that defendant “caused $2,500,000 of [Client 2’s] $2,750,000 settlement payment to be transferred to an attorney trust account for another law firm,” prosecutors wrote in their application. “That same day, defendant Avenatti caused Law Firm 1 to transfer the entire $2,500,000 to Honda Aircraft Company, LLC, to purchase a private airplane for defendant Avenatti’s company, Passport 420.”

As detailed in last summer’s trial, that law firm was the X-Law Group, which was controlled by Avenatti’s former law associate Filippo Marchino, and Marchino used the money to purchase the jet for Avenatti’s company Passport 420. Client 2 is Alexis Gardner, whom Avenatti represented in a mediation against her former boyfriend, professional basketball player Hassan Whiteside, and was one of five clients who testified against Avenatti.

His signed waiver states that he “expressly, freely and voluntarily forfeits all right, title, and interest” in the jet.

Avenatti, who is currently in prison following convictions in two New York prosecutions, is slated to be sentenced in the Central District of California later this year on Oct. 3 at 9 a.m. Pacific Time.

This is a developing story.

Read the full filing, below.

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